I have just started using StumbleUpon, and literally stumbled upon a web site called The Toilet Paper. Each day they produce an amusing blog on something topical. One of their blogs was composed entirely of the following diagrams to explain U.S.A Federal Government expenditure:
It is a fun, interesting representation but it is also frustrating. The information is a hierarchy but it is being displayed in the style of a flowchart. The reader gets lost as they keep scrolling and scrolling. It is also full of distracting chartjunk. This is O.K. in a satrical blog but the problem is these styles are being used in business settings.
A more informative, though less visually exciting representation is:
We can now see some inconsistencies. The F22 Raptors do not have a second level breakdown. Department of State has an extra level breakdown for Israel. The breakdown for NASA is more of a commentary than displaying extra spending details.
The point is about the target audience. What is suitable for the audience of a blog called The Toilet Paper is not necessarily suitable for people in the workplace who need to quickly make informed decisions.
No comments:
Post a Comment